Giant Ideas

Immad Akhund is the Co-founder & CEO at Mercury - one of the most widely used business banking platforms globally. He is also an active investor in Silicon Valley - as an active investor in 350 startups at their earliest stages including Airtable, Substack, and Rappi. In this episode we talk about the three photographs that define Immad's life so far, the fateful weekend of the Silicon Valley Bank failure, and his leadership lessons learnt in a time of crisis.Building a purpose driven company? Read more about Giant Ventures at www.Giant.vc.Music credits: Bubble King written and produced by Cameron McLain and Stevan Cablayan aka Vector_XING. Please note: The content of this podcast is for informational and entertainment purposes only. It should not be considered financial, legal, or investment advice. Always consult a licensed professional before making any investment decisions.

Immad Akhund is the Co-founder and CEO at Mercury - one of the most widely used business banking platforms globally. He is also an active investor in Silicon Valley - as an active investor in 350 startups at their earliest stages including Airtable, Substack, and Rappi. This year he announced that Mercury raised $300 million at $3.5 billion valuation. He also announced his $26 million fund to back early-stage startups. In this episode we talk about why founders make the best venture investors, his experience with investors at Mercury, and what it takes to scale a unicorn.Stay tuned next week to hear episode 2 about Immad's life so far and how he dealt with the panic of the weekend Silicon Valley Bank failed.Building a purpose driven company? Read more about Giant Ventures at www.Giant.vc.Music credits: Bubble King written and produced by Cameron McLain and Stevan Cablayan aka Vector_XING. Please note: The content of this podcast is for informational and entertainment purposes only. It should not be considered financial, legal, or investment advice. Always consult a licensed professional before making any investment decisions.

Today on the Giant Ideas podcast we welcome back visionary architect Bjarke Ingels, founder of  @BIGSOLUTIONS (Bjarke Ingels Group), whose work includes Google’s Silicon Valley campus, the Danish Maritime Museum, and 2 World Trade Center. In this episode, Bjarke shares his philosophy on how your home should be a portrait of who you are. He also reflects on the three photographs that have defined his life, how his early love of drawing shaped his path to becoming an architect, and his unique design philosophy: embracing challenges and diverse demands (“Yes, is more”) to create innovative architecture.Building a purpose driven company? Read more about Giant Ventures at www.Giant.vc.Music credits: Bubble King written and produced by Cameron McLain and Stevan Cablayan aka Vector_XING. Please note: The content of this podcast is for informational and entertainment purposes only. It should not be considered financial, legal, or investment advice. Always consult a licensed professional before making any investment decisions.

Today on the Giant Ideas podcast we welcome visionary architect Bjarke Ingels, founder of BIG (Bjarke Ingels Group), whose work includes Google’s Silicon Valley campus, the Danish Maritime Museum, and 2 World Trade Center. In this episode, Bjarke shares his philosophy of “utopian pragmatism,” the inseparable link between form and function in architecture, and his thoughts on why architecture matters.Bjarke also discusses collaborations with fellow visionary Thomas Heatherwick, the economic and societal forces shaping our built environment. We discuss his ambitious “Mindfulness City” project in Bhutan, his concept of “hedonic sustainability”: designing cities and spaces that are irresistible and joyful.Tune in for a fascinating exploration of how architecture can shape a better world, insight into the Danish approach to design and sustainability, and why balancing contradictions is needed more than ever.Building a purpose driven company? Read more about Giant Ventures at www.Giant.vc.Music credits: Bubble King written and produced by Cameron McLain and Stevan Cablayan aka Vector_XING. Please note: The content of this podcast is for informational and entertainment purposes only. It should not be considered financial, legal, or investment advice. Always consult a licensed professional before making any investment decisions.

Doug Bernauer, founder of Radiant (one of Giant’s most exciting growth investments) joins us again on the Giant Ideas podcast. We backed Radiant in their Series C round to mass produce portable nuclear reactors.The founder, Doug, worked with Elon Musk for 12 years at SpaceX - including their reusable rocket prototype and the Mars Colonisation project. In this episode, he shares the 3 photographs that define his life, what he learnt from SpaceX, and why good companies need 'unreasonable' leaders. Building a purpose driven company? Read more about Giant Ventures at www.Giant.vc.Music credits: Bubble King written and produced by Cameron McLain and Stevan Cablayan aka Vector_XING. Please note: The content of this podcast is for informational and entertainment purposes only. It should not be considered financial, legal, or investment advice. Always consult a licensed professional before making any investment decisions.